Dragon Quest II

A perfect little extension of DQ1. Expands on everything. It takes place a few hundred years after the first, in the same world. You can actually visit the once prosperous kingdom from the first game, even if it’s pretty much in shambles now.
You play as three descendants of the hero from the first game, all royalty of their respective kingdoms. You journey across the world, in much the same way as the first. Kind of just feeling about and talking to people to get hints. I did break our a world map, and dungeon maps so as not to waste too much time looking for places. Otherwise this would have been a 40 hour game of wandering around aimlessly. A holdover from the NES days to extend playtime.
This game really upped the encounter rate AND difficulty. I was very frustrated by this at the end game. Every two or three steps you’d get into battle with enemies that could one shot the party. I also had to grind an hour or so for the final boss. He was tough!
Was a short game. About 15-17 hours. I didn’t track but I started Friday morning.
I think it deserves about the same rating as the previous. 7/10 though because of that damn encounter rate and frustration level at the end.
Onto Dragon Quest III!